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josb-tem2

Edit 0 35 …

Does salt type effect the melting rate of snow?


Problem Scenario



Broad Question

What type of salt melts snow the fastest?

Specific Question

Does salt type affect the melting rate of snow?

Hypothesis

I think that sea salt will affect the melting rate of the snow because its more concentrated then the regular salt.

Graph of Hypothesis





Variables

Independent Variable: Type of salt.
Dependent Variable: Melting rate.

Variables That Need To Be Controlled: Amount of snow.
Amount of salt.

Vocabulary List That Needs Explanation


General Plan


Potential Problems and Solutions:Spilling the container full of salt and snow.

Safety Or Environmental Concerns: Getting salt in your eyes. ingesting salt.


Experimental Design

(add the correct headings from the experimental design page before beginning)

Resources and Budget Table


Data Table


Time Line

  1. Early March, Collecting supplies
  2. Mid March, start testing experiment
  3. Late March, be finished with testing experiment
  4. Early April, graphing and recording data.
  5. Mid April, start working on poster board
  6. Late April, finish poster board
  7. Early May, practice explaining project.

Background Research

My project is about salt melting snow. I believe that the sea salt will have a faster melting rate than the table salt. There are many different thing that affect the melting rate of the snow from the salt. Some of these reasons are stated in my paragraphs below. For this project the two types of salt I will be using will be sea salt and table salt.

The salt melts the snow or ice because all salt has a Chemical called Sodium Chloride that breaks up and dissolves the snow or ice. The snow will start melting when it reaches a temperature over 32 degrees Fahrenheit. The type of salt people use on roads is a chemicals and different types of salt like both sea salt and table salt. Sea salt is high in Sodium Chloride so it is good for melting snow and ice. Regular cooking salt/ table salt is a little bit lower in sodium Chloride but is still been proven to work well on melting snow because it is controlled in a certain area. Sea salt is a little higher in sodium chloride and works also and is very concentrated.

The snow will be melting in around four to five minutes at the most. This is true because the snow will start melting around 32 degrees Fahrenheit as I stated before and with the added factor of the salt that should speed the process up a little. The snow will also start melting around that amount of time because the temperature of its surroundings and I am performing this experiment inside with a temperature consisting of around 65 degrees Fahrenheit. It will also start melting around then because of how broken up and light it is. Also it will melt around then because of the amount and weight of the salt.

The Chemical Sodium Chloride melts the snow because it breaks it up and dissolves it like I said before. Also it can add room temperature
if it was inside which would add heat to the snow causing it to melt. Also the sodium chloride would work better when the snow is less compact and more light and soft. The sodium chloride works the best on snow because there are more air pockets to go in than ice. Another reason sodium chloride doesn't work on ice as well as snow is that the ice is thick and the sodium chloride has a hard time breaking it up.

Those are some reasons that I think sea salt will melt the snow faster than the table salt. Those are also some of the many different different things that affect the melting rate.

References:

"Salt." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 03 June 2012. Web. 09 Mar. 2012. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salt>.
"Melting Snow & Ice With Salt." About.com Chemistry. Web. 16 Mar. 2012. <http://chemistry.about.com/cs/howthingswork/a/aa120703a.htm>.

Detailed Procedure

First I will measure the same amount of snow and the same amount of each type of salt. Then I will put the certain amount of salt in the snow and time it to see how fast it melts to a certain measurement. Then I will do the same with the other salt. After that I will write down the time it took and record it.

Diagram


Photo List

I plan to take pictures when I first set up the experiment to show there is the same amount of each item like snow and salt. I also plan to take photos while I am performing this experiment so I can show how much it melts over a period of time.

Results

All Raw Data



Graphs





Photos


Data Analysis

  • First Trial I did, The Sea salt took only 5.7 minutes to melt the snow from one cup to a half cup and it took the table salt 7.8 minutes to melt one whole cup down to a half cup.
  • The second Trial I did, it took the sea salt 5.5 minutes to melt the snow from one cup to a half cup and it took the table salt took 6.8 minutes to melt the snow from one whole cup down to a half cup.
  • On the third Trial I did, The sea salt took 5.3 minutes to melt the snow down from one cup to half a cup it took the table salt 7.9 minutes to melt the snow down from one cup to half a cup.
  • The forth Trial I did, The sea salt took 6.1 minutes to melt the snow from one cup to a half a cup The table salt took 6.5 minutes to melt the snow from one cup down to a half a cup.

Conclusion

The sea salt has a faster melting rate than table salt does. An example of my conclusion would be some of my data I collected such as Sea salt took only 5.7 minutes and table salt took 7.8 minutes to melt one whole cup to a half a cup.
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Abstract

Does salt type affect the melting rate of snow. I think that sea salt will have the faster melting rate of snow than the table salt. The salt melts the snow or ice because all salt has a chemical in it called sodium chloride that breaks up and dissolves the snow or ice. The snow will start melting when it reaches around 32 degrees Fahrenheit. The type of salt people use on roads is chemicals and different types of salt mixed together. Sea salt is high in sodium chloride so it is good for melting snow and ice. Table salt is a little bit lower in sodium chloride but still has been proven to melt snow and ice because the sodium is concentrated is one specific area.My project is about which type of salt will have the fastest melting rate of snow, Sea salt or table salt. I will be testing each type of salt three times each in the same amount of snow to get an accurate answer to what I am testing. During the experiment I will be taking pictures of the snow as it melts to a certain level of ¾ cup when I started at 1 whole cup.To prove I did my experiment. I will also be graphing and writing down my data after I time it with a stopwatch to see how fast it takes to get to the specific amount I decide on. After I am finished collecting the data for my experiment I will organize my data to make my graph. The sea salt had a stronger affect on the snow than the table salt. I saw a pattern of the sea salt had mostly increased in the time it took to melt the snow but there was a fluctuating of the melting rate with the table salt. This answered my question because it proved that sea salt has the faster melting rate of snow. The relationship between my independent and dependent variables very week because they have nothing to do with one another. My experiment didn't have any problems and my data had no errors. It could help people in the winter because they will have a more affective and quicker melting rate for the snow and the ice so they wont have to worry as much for ice and snow in the way. Some people who could use this information would be people who have to be some where but need to melt the ice or snow faster. I think that it could be better if we added another type of salt to test. It could help scientists to melt ice faster to uncover new things and also help people get places safer by putting it in there drive ways in the winter.